Course https://cquips.ca Centre for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Tue, 17 Mar 2026 19:37:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://cquips.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/favicon.svg Course https://cquips.ca 32 32 Certificate Course for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety https://cquips.ca/certificatecourse/ Thu, 05 Oct 2023 19:19:48 +0000 https://cquips.ca/?page_id=33521 Certificate Course for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Read Now

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Program

The Certificate Course for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

The Certificate Course covers a wide range of quality improvement and patient safety (QIPS) topics to prepare participants for the successful execution of QI initiatives.

Compare CQuIPS Education Programs here

Course Content

Participants will learn fundamental QIPS skills including process mapping, change concepts, PDSA, run charts and how to lead change.

For an example of course content, click here to see last year’s syllabus.

Format

The course is delivered through bi-weekly sessions that combine didactic lectures, interactive exercises, small and large group discussions and special presentations. Dedicated time is provided for participants to network with course faculty, coaches and other participants throughout the year.

Participants apply their in-class learning to a QI project carried out in their workplace; we assign each participant a coach who will provide one-on-one guidance and support throughout the year.

Target Audience

  • Health professionals in practice (e.g., clinicians, allied health professionals, administrators) whose work or role actively involves QI or patient safety
  • Senior trainees seeking to make QI or patient safety a career focus in either an academic or a community-based setting

Program Impact

Participants in the certificate course will hear from a number of engaging speakers, including clinicians and health care leaders, who are highly respected experts in their fields. We carefully select speakers with different professional backgrounds who have demonstrated track records in successfully implementing QI initiatives in a variety of health care settings.

Bourne Auguste
Co-director

Chandra Farrer
Co-director

Mohita Vedhi
Course coordinator

Session details

Time Commitment:
• Live classes: Tuesday afternoons from 1-4:30 p.m. (20 sessions from Sept. 2026 to June 2027)
• Additional: assignments and individual QI project work

Location:
In-person sessions at CQuIPS’ Sickkids site

Registration Fees:
• Physicians: $5,995 CAD
• Residents/fellows/trainees: $3,750 CAD
• Health professionals: $3,750 CAD

The application period for the Certificate Course is now open. Application deadline will be April 17, 2026. For inquiries, please email us at certificate.course@sickkids.ca. 

View application form and requirements here

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John Doe

Education

Our educational programs range from one-day workshops to longitudinal programs that are conducted on a local, national and international level. In all our offerings, we strive to ensure that learners have meaningful learning opportunities and create networks and connections throughout the community.

]]> Healthcare Improvement Fellowship https://cquips.ca/fellowship-program/ Tue, 19 Sep 2023 17:47:14 +0000 https://cquips.ca/?page_id=32764 Healthcare Improvement Fellowship Read Now

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Program

Healthcare Improvement Fellowship

The Healthcare Improvement Fellowship is a joint venture between CQUIPS and Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC) which aims to support a community of Fellows and provide advanced training in quality improvement and patient safety.

Read about our Healthcare Improvement Fellows here

Course Content

The Healthcare Improvement Fellowship consists of two streams: 1) A CQuIPS stream; and 2) A Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC) stream. The monthly sessions include a focus on topics such as advanced quality improvement (QI) methodologies, implementation science, equity in healthcare, and patient engagement. Fellows are also integrated into a CQuIPS/CWC initiative that aligns with their personal interests and future career goals.

2026-2027 Format

The Healthcare Improvement Fellowship consists of the following core components:

Monthly Fellowship Sessions: Monthly Fellowship sessions combine guest presenters, Fellow presentations and project updates, and networking activities. Sessions are organized as following:

  1. One full-day in-person session in September 2026
  2. Two-hour virtual sessions monthly from October 2026 to May 2027 (except January)
  3. One full-day in-person session in May 2027

Fellowship Project: Based on their interests and priorities, Fellows work on a CQuIPS/CWC initiative under the supervision of a CQuIPS/CWC mentor. Fellows will have regular contact with their mentor, as frequently as once a month.

    1. CQuIPS projects could be in relation to its QI, research or education programs.
    2. CWC activities could include supporting or leading a component of an implementation project, participating in program evaluation, or supporting regional or national CWC initiatives (e.g., Using Labs Wisely, STARS), etc.

Target Audience

  • Individuals who have completed advanced training (e.g., certificate or graduate programs) or have significant career experience in quality improvement (QI), health services research or a related field.
  • We encourage individuals from any healthcare professional training background and/or relevant graduate school training background to apply, including healthcare leaders at all career stages and clinicians working in academic health sciences centres.
  • Applicants must attest to having a minimum of one half day a week of protected time to carry out Fellowship-related work and attend Fellow sessions.

Program Impact

  • Since 2021, there have been 36 Fellows from a wide-range of professional backgrounds (e.g., medicine, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, research etc.,) who have completed the CQuIPS/CWC Fellowship
  • Many past Fellows have maintained their involvement in CQuIPS/CWC through participation in research and education initiatives
  • Fellows have taken on major leadership positions following their involvement in the CQuIPS/CWC Fellowship

Brian Wong
Co-director

Andrea Patey
Co-director

Mohita Vedhi
Course coordinator

2026-2027 Session details

Time commitment:
• September 2026 to May 2027
• Full day sessions, 2 times throughout the year
• Monthly 2 hour meetings

The application period for the Fellowship is now open. Deadline to apply is May 1st, 2026.

Apply here

It was nice to have other colleagues and to hear what's happening around Ontario, and even outside of Ontario, in terms of QI work that's going on. We have a little community of practice while we were having our sessions during that year.

Susanna Fung, Quality Improvement Director, DFCM
Healthcare Improvement Fellowship Alumni

Education

Our educational programs range from one-day workshops to longitudinal programs that are conducted on a local, national and international level. In all our offerings, we strive to ensure that learners have meaningful learning opportunities and create networks and connections throughout the community.

]]> Co-Learning Curriculum in Quality Improvement https://cquips.ca/co-learning/ Fri, 19 Aug 2022 10:35:32 +0000 https://cquips.ca/?page_id=218 Co-Learning Curriculum in Quality Improvement Read Now

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Program

Co-Learning Curriculum in Quality Improvement

The Co-Learning Curriculum covers topics that are fundamental to the successful execution of a QI initiative.

Inquire Now

Course Content

Participants will take part in workshops that cover topics such as choosing a QI project focus, aim statements, QI measures, process tools, mapping solutions to problems that account for local context, stakeholder engagement, rapid cycle change (i.e. PDSA), and run charts.

Format

The curriculum spans one academic year and includes two workshops (fall and winter) that involve didactic and interactive learning, a faculty-resident team-based QI project, and a final session in June that features an invited keynote speaker and group project presentations. Three sub-specialty training programs are grouped together for the workshops allowing for interactivity and cross-program learning. Project work occurs in-between sessions with each group’s faculty providing ongoing mentoring throughout this time.

Target Audience

This innovative program teaches QI to faculty members and trainees (typically residents) at the same time, achieving the dual goal of developing core QI competencies for residents while creating faculty capacity to teach QI and supervise QI projects. We have taught faculty and learners across a wide range of medical and surgical specialties, and have started to pilot a modified version of the program for other health professional groups (e.g. dieticians, pharmacists).

Program Impact

Faculty who have participated as learners in the over 35 training programs from the Departments of Medicine, Paediatrics, Surgery and Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology at the University of Toronto now teach in the Co-Learning Curriculum and mentor residents’ QI projects. A keynote speaker is invited each year for the final plenary session.

Co-Learning QI is a requirement for participating University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine programs. We have offered consultation services on the Co-Learning Model for other schools that have been interested in adopting it in their own settings.

Learn more here.

 

Katrina Piggott
Co-director

Olivia Ostrow
Co-director

Beth Gamulka
Associate director
Christian Base
Course Coordinator
Sherri Mizrachi
Course Coordinator

Session details

Time commitment:

• Two half day, in-person workshops, one in September and one in January

Apply Now
Inquire Now

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John Doe

Education

Our educational programs range from one-day workshops to longitudinal programs that are conducted on a local, national and international level. In all our offerings, we strive to ensure that learners have meaningful learning opportunities and create networks and connections throughout the community.

]]> VA Quality Scholars https://cquips.ca/vaqs/ Fri, 19 Aug 2022 10:34:59 +0000 https://cquips.ca/?page_id=216 VA Quality Scholars Read Now

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Program

VA Quality Scholars (VAQS)

The VAQS program as suspended intake for 2026-2027.

The Veteran Affairs Quality Scholars (VAQS) fellowship program began in the late 1990s and has been recognized as one of the most comprehensive and established quality improvement (QI) training programs in North America.

Course Content

The VAQS program is designed as a ‘hub and spoke’ model – with a coordinating center at the Houston Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (IQuESt) at the Houston VA and Baylor College of Medicine. Faculty run the program and work in direct partnership with the VA Office of Academic Affiliations, which oversees all VA Advanced Fellowship Programs. There are nine other sites (spokes) across the United States. Toronto is the tenth and only non-American site for the VAQS program.

This two-year research program was designed to nurture fellows and junior faculty who would like to pursue academic careers in QI and patient safety within the framework of leadership in medical administration, education or clinical practice.

2025-2026 Format

The two-year VAQS fellowship is comprised of four components:

1. Weekly half-day sessions on Friday afternoons (all virtual except for one per month that is in person) :

  • 1-2 p.m. group meetings to discuss QI projects, present research and discuss required course work (Toronto only)
  • 2-3 p.m. two-way interactive videoconference (TWIV) sessions across all VAQS sites – minimum 75% attendance is required

2. Mandatory attendance at the VAQS Summer Institute 

3. Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Symposium in Toronto

4. Research project: fellows are expected to design and develop a research project of appropriate scope and breadth that they are expected to present and discuss at various stages of development throughout the course

Target Audience

  • Healthcare professionals in advanced stages of training
  • Early-career faculty interested in research, QI and health services, or QI within the framework of leadership in medical administration, education or clinical practice. This course is especially beneficial for those who would like to pursue academic careers in QI and patient safety.

Core Faculty and Speakers

VAQS invites group speakers during the first hour of class time to supplement the learnings from the TWIV. These healthcare leaders and researchers are highly respected experts in their field and provide mentorship and feedback on fellows’ projects and career goals.

Nely Amaral
Co-director
Sonal Gandhi
Co-director
Chaim Bell
Emeritus scholar

Lisha Lo
Course coordinator

2025-2026 Session details

Time commitment:
• Live classes – Fridays (1-3pm)
• Group assignments and individual QI project work

Location:
• Virtual
• In-person: CQuIPS Sickkids Site
• Summer Institute (virtual)

The VAQS program is temporarily suspending intake for 2026-2027. For inquiries, please email us at cquips@utoronto.ca. 

View 2025 VAQS flyer
Inquire Here

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum

John Doe

Education

Our educational programs range from one-day workshops to longitudinal programs that are conducted on a local, national and international level. In all our offerings, we strive to ensure that learners have meaningful learning opportunities and create networks and connections throughout the community.

]]> The Excellence in Quality Improvement Certificate Program https://cquips.ca/equip/ Fri, 19 Aug 2022 10:34:31 +0000 https://cquips.ca/?page_id=214 The Excellence in Quality Improvement Certificate Program Read Now

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Program

Excellence in Quality Improvement Certificate Program (EQUIP)

The goal of the EQUIP is to train current and future clinicians and leaders working at university-affiliated academic health centres or clinics to build capacity in QI.

Compare CQuIPS Education Programs here

Course Content

EQUIP is an advanced certificate program that includes the following content areas:

  • Improvement science and rigorous application of quality improvement methods
  • Academic skills building, including scholarly writing and leveraging QI work for career advancement and academic promotion
  • Embedding equity into quality improvement work
  • Advanced evaluation and qualitative methodologies
  • Linking improvement to operational excellence
  • Emerging topics such as artificial intelligence, design thinking, and environmental sustainability

Format

We will once again deliver the first 3 days of EQUIP in-person in Toronto, Canada on August 5-7, 2026. New for 2026-2027, the program capstone will be organized in-person (with a virtual option) on May 12, 2027. The remainder of the monthly sessions (September 2026 to April 2027) will be delivered virtually. Participants complete a longitudinal QI project as part of the program and are assigned a faculty coach to provide guidance and support them throughout the program.

Target Audience

  • Academic faculty seeking to more meaningfully integrate QI into their clinical work or scholarly activities
  • Senior trainees wanting to make QI an academic career focus
  • Health professionals and administrators in advanced practice or operational leadership positions working in academic settings

Program Faculty

Our internationally-recognized EQUIP faculty team are practicing clinicians and leading experts in QI. They have a track record in executing QI projects in academic settings and disseminating their work through publication in high-impact journals. CQuIPS’ oversight of the international SQUIRE writing guidelines means that course participants will learn directly from the individuals setting the standards for QI globally.

Program Impact

Since 2017, EQUIP has trained 188 faculty, senior trainees and hospital administrators working in academic departments and institutions across North America. Past participants span all career stages, ranging from senior trainees to full professors. EQUIP alumni have been appointed into academic faculty positions at prominent institutions, promoted based on their QI work, and assumed major leadership QI positions (e.g., Medical Director of Quality and Safety, Vice-Chair of Quality Improvement, QI Committee Chair within National Specialty Societies). Several EQUIP projects have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals.  

Brian Wong
Director

Lisha Lo
Course coordinator

Session Details

In-Person Session (8:30 AM to 4:30 PM EST):
• August 5–7, 2026 in Toronto, Canada

Virtual Sessions (10 AM to 3 PM EST):
• September 9, 2026
• October 14, 2026
• November 4, 2026
• December 9, 2026
• January 13, 2027
• February 10, 2027
• March 10, 2027
• April 14, 2027

Virtual Project Coaching (90mins):
Every other month

In-person Capstone (10am-4pm EST)
• May 12, 2027 in Toronto, Canada

Registration Fee

$7,995 (CAD)

The application period for the EQUIP is now open. The application form and requirements are available below. Application deadline will be April 17, 2026. For inquiries, please email us at cquips@utoronto.ca. 

View 2026-2027 EQUIP flyer and application form here

[After looking at] various programs, including Harvard's offering and other sort of programs, offerings and decided on EQUIP because it had a nice blend of the content which I was looking for, but also the delivery mode was to my liking as well, virtually, and it was, as I said, covered the spectrum of the topics that I was looking to look at. I'd also like the practical approach to it in terms of a project that would be pursued in the context of the work that was being done from a didactic perspective

Joseph Kim, Director, Kidney Transplant Program, UHN
EQUIP Alumni

Education

Our educational programs range from one-day workshops to longitudinal programs that are conducted on a local, national and international level. In all our offerings, we strive to ensure that learners have meaningful learning opportunities and create networks and connections throughout the community.

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